Government to review IT project process

The government is tightening up the processes used to monitor the implementation of public sector IT projects.

In future, IT projects will not pass the Gateway Review process unless they include fallback plans in the event of major problems.

Gateway Reviews are used to monitor projects at key stages to guard against failure, and are overseen by The Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

Speaking to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee, OGC chief executive Sir Peter Gershon said: "We have just revised and relaunched the Gateway guidelines, requiring a more rigorous inclusion of proven fallback arrangements."

An OGC spokesman claimed that it had always intended to update the guidelines, but that recent problems with the Inland Revenue's Tax Credit system had highlighted the need for change.

The Tax Credit system, run by EDS, was launched in April 2002. But problems resulted in huge backlogs of applications and the system is not expected to be fully back on track until March 2005.

The project missed the first three Gateway reviews - called zero, one and two - that cover essentials such as business justification and procurement strategy.

"The refresh was underway before the Tax Credit system went live," said the OGC spokesman. "We wanted more rigorous testing and fallback plans, and the Revenue's problems showed that we were on the right lines."

The Work and Pensions Committee is currently reviewing how it can ensure successful IT projects at the Child Support Agency.

Last year's roll-out of a £300m system, developed to support a new formula to calculate maintenance payments, suffered an 11-month delay.